Endurance Issues And Exercise Intolerance

[Jen-1984]

New here and I wanted to just ask if any of you have had issues with exercise, especially those of you who used to be athletic and then "came down" with celiac/gluten intolerance. When I was 21 I was very active, fit, had a great amount of energy and could exercise quite a bit, running for about an hour everyday and lifting weights. Then I came down with feeling fatigued, and feeling worse after exercise, feeling like my body was inflamed. I have been tested for lupus, RA, and several other autoimmune disorders and come out that they are negative. The only test to be positive/elevated ever was the deamidated gliadin peptide IgG. I miss exercising so much, but it seems like when I do, my body reacts negatively. Has anyone ever experienced this? Fatigue after exercise, pain in joints, lack of endurance and feeling like your body gets inflamed afterwards? I am new to the gluten-free diet, only been seriously on it for a day and a half so I haven't seen any major improvements in symptoms yet. Thanks in advance.

[Carebear]

I definitely had problems like this when I was first diagnosed and when glutened now - even if it was only a small amount. It was AWFUL! I mountaineer, so I went from 20+ mile and crazy elevation gain hiking/climbing trips to barely being able to move around my apartment. Do you have edema? Bad edema days make me feel weighty and sluggish (and I am weighty with edema - I lost 15lbs of water weight within 4 days of going gluten free - seriously not kidding!). Stick to the diet, especially if your IgG level is super elevated. I had a positive biopsy but my only positive blood test was the IgG which was 4x higher than the normal level. IgG's are not specific, meaning they can bind to other similar proteins in addition to gluten. I started out on the SCD diet when I was first diagnosed because I was reacting to all grains and some other proteins that are supposedly similar to gluten, but now that my antibody levels are normalizing I've been able to start eating more. Sorry that was a bit rambly - it's getting late over here!

[prizm99]

Last summer I was able to exercise. I've never had it easy where I could exercise and not feel like my body was inflamed. However, last summer I was able to bike and feel fairly good. Then fall came and I haven't been able to exercise since. January I started a strict gluten free diet. I haven't started back up exercising yet but I feel like I might be able to ease into some walking soon. I have also been tested for RA and lupus which both came back negative. Sorry I can't tell you if it gets better with time but I understand your frustration. I've gained a lot of my weight back since last summer.

[zamm0]

New here and I wanted to just ask if any of you have had issues with exercise, especially those of you who used to be athletic and then "came down" with celiac/gluten intolerance. When I was 21 I was very active, fit, had a great amount of energy and could exercise quite a bit, running for about an hour everyday and lifting weights. Then I came down with feeling fatigued, and feeling worse after exercise, feeling like my body was inflamed. I have been tested for lupus, RA, and several other autoimmune disorders and come out that they are negative. The only test to be positive/elevated ever was the deamidated gliadin peptide IgG. I miss exercising so much, but it seems like when I do, my body reacts negatively. Has anyone ever experienced this? Fatigue after exercise, pain in joints, lack of endurance and feeling like your body gets inflamed afterwards? I am new to the gluten-free diet, only been seriously on it for a day and a half so I haven't seen any major improvements in symptoms yet. Thanks in advance.

I think that's the key point and that you need to give things a few months, possibly even a year or two. I get the impression you are still fairly young? Plenty of time to get fit again and achieve all those goals.

[NorthernElf]

I have my ups & downs.....and wow, I too have had RA, Lupus, etc. tests. Last April I had an MRI and the rheumy told me it looked like MS (!). I saw a neurologist and he pretty much ruled that out. I have since seen that Celiac can cause simliar brain changes. My symptoms were lots of joint pain - whole body but particularly the hands/wrists/elbows....some knee/ankle.....classic RA symptoms, and the fatigue etc. Fibromyalgia have been suggested too but there isn't a definitive test - & I have no interest in meds. A couple of months ago I had wicked neck spasms that was helped by a massage (ouch) and some muscle relaxants.

These days I work mornings, rest a couple of hours in the afternoon (read/watch my shows), then run & get my kids, make supper, etc. I need my breaks. Having said that, I teach fitness & am very active, it has always been my coping mechanism ! Days I don't do anything are way worse - went away for a hockey tournament with my boys and I was very sore.

I'm not sure how much of this is celiac or fibro or what. Sucks though ! Activity is my medicine - good days I participate more in my classes, bad days I talk more, do yoga, or walk for my own activity....stretch a lot !

[Assaf]

About four months ago I started developing quite suddenly severe knee and muscle pains in my quads/hamstrings. I assumed this was due to exercise as I was increasing my workload gradually and was doing about 6 hours of cardio a week at the time. I went to a sports medicine doctor which diagnosed it as IT band syndrome and sent me to physical therapy. The therapy didn’t help, and the symptoms spread to other joints and muscles. Eventually I went to my primary care doctor which tested me for lupus, RA, Lyme and  toxoplasmosis  -  all were negative.

 

I had googled the symptoms and gluten intolerance did fit some of the symptoms, but I had no digestive symptoms so initially I assumed it wasn’t the problem, but eventually I was getting very frustrated with  the constant pain and not being able to exercise that I decided I might as well give the gluten free diet a chance. Within two days I could feel the difference, and four weeks into the gluten free diet I would say I’m about 95% back to normal.

 

It’s a bit disappointing that I was the one to come up with the answer after three months of suffering  and $1500 worth of tests, rather than a doctor, but I guess I’m happy to be back to normal.

 

It’s quite amazing just how widespread and diverse the pain was, I was getting joint pains in basically every joint of my body, ligaments and tendons would hurt, needle prick and some longer lasting burning sensations in muscles, joint clicking in the spine, skin sensitivity, and the most concerning was a feeling of individual muscle fibers tearing when performing routime every day motions. Essentially my whole body was hurting one way or another.

[dilettantesteph]

I was also very active.  I mainly did ballet and skiing, quite hard core.  Then illness set it.  It crept up over many years.  I have a rowing machine, Concept 2, and did their Christmas challenge every year and kept records.  After diagnosis I was able to look back and see how I had gotten worse and worse.  I had thought that it was normal aging.  It took me awhile to learn the diet and heal, but I was able to regain the ability that I had from 15 or so years earlier.  I decided to challenge myself with a mini triathlon to do a year after diagnosis.  When I started training, I couldn't even run all the way around the block.  After a few months of training I did a 5K and was in the middle or so.  I did the mini triathlon and finished respectfully for an aging woman.  

 

Your athletic ability will come back.  Give it time, meanwhile, physical activity helps me handle glutenings.  Keep it up.

[taynichaf]

New here and I wanted to just ask if any of you have had issues with exercise, especially those of you who used to be athletic and then "came down" with celiac/gluten intolerance. When I was 21 I was very active, fit, had a great amount of energy and could exercise quite a bit, running for about an hour everyday and lifting weights. Then I came down with feeling fatigued, and feeling worse after exercise, feeling like my body was inflamed. I have been tested for lupus, RA, and several other autoimmune disorders and come out that they are negative. The only test to be positive/elevated ever was the deamidated gliadin peptide IgG. I miss exercising so much, but it seems like when I do, my body reacts negatively. Has anyone ever experienced this? Fatigue after exercise, pain in joints, lack of endurance and feeling like your body gets inflamed afterwards? I am new to the gluten-free diet, only been seriously on it for a day and a half so I haven't seen any major improvements in symptoms yet. Thanks in advance.

I used to be very active when I was younger... As i got older I got more and more tired. I had unexplained weight gain, so I forced myself to exersize and eat healthy(whole wheat bread.....)  tortured myself and finally got to my goal weight.. then i ended up gaining it all back(about 15 pounds) within two weeks! Getting off topic...lol. But anyways, I would force myself to workout despite fatigue, but now I am at the point where even thinking about exercise makes me exhausted! I gave up running awhile ago because I lost my good endurance I guess.. I got into weight lifting, and now I gave that up too because I just cant push myself like i used to I can't even get myself to try ONE push-up, because the thought just exhausts me!... And I think I'm afraid to see how week i've become...

 

Good luck on the gluten free diet! I'm sure you'll get all your energy back so you'r able to exercise!

[Deaminated Marcus]

When I went gluten free in October 2010, I had so much energy I could exercise and Iost weight.

Not only that, I could do heavy dumbell curls without the reoccuring forearm tendon injuries of the past

.

In my gluten challenge, I'm just dragging myself and in so much pain,

yet I tested negative for the Celiac panel so I don't know anymore.